Ever since Pride had heard about the dye and its magic, he had intended to make himself some markings. He wasn't in a rush--he didn't know the magic to settle it in place, regardless--but he had nothing to do right at the moment, and so he'd thought he'd change things up a little. Every day in recent memory had been spent in Eridanus and in Orion; why not head up to Fornax?

The only thing was... he'd rather forgotten how ill he felt. The transfer of Amazon's sickness had left him weak and unwell, nauseous. The climb up Tunnel M had been far more dangerous than he'd anticipated, and Mischief had fallen to scouting for him, racing up and down and leading him along the safer, easier paths. Or as easy as the craggy tunnel got, anyway.

Then, at the mouth of Fornax, he'd exhaustedly collapsed and slept for a time. He wasn't quite sure how long he'd need before he could tackle the path back down, but he had a feeling it would be a day or two at least.

Now, after the sleep, he'd pushed back up. At least Fornax was warm, and something about its rank odor and humidity seemed... conducive to good health, somehow. The stag picked his way to the water's edge, and peered down.

He didn't know much about the dyes. He knew that he wanted something pale, something shimmery--not unlike his diamond, perhaps--and the idea of pearl had struck him. He'd only seen the inside of the shells in Fornax once or twice, but now he began to pick his way along the rocky shore, pebbles clattering underfoot, as he looked for them.

The trip back to Canis would be much quicker --- Tunnel M was just a big 'ol dive once you were done climbing it --- but Aure couldn't bring himself to make the venture. He was exhausted from the uphill battle that tunnel had been, and the cloying humidity of Fornax made him feel warm and sleepy.

So, he had a sleepover with just himself. Perching carefully on slick, smooth stone, the wyvern edged into the wall until he was surrounded on three sides. Curling up the best he could and tucking his beak beneath his wing, Aure fell asleep rather easily. It was a dreamless sleep, but rest nonetheless; he couldn't complain, when he had just spent a good sum of the past twenty-four hours awake and stressing over what he'd say and what he'd do. The kid deserved a decent nap.

Some time later --- probably around ten hours --- he stretched awake and gave a great, big yawn. In a very catlike fashion, he planted his wings on the ground, steadying himself as he stuck his birdy rear in the air and gave it a good stretch. Aure gave each wing an experimental flap. Bright eyes gave his temporary bed a squinting look; apparently, stone wasn't that comfortable or conducive to joints that didn't feel like they were about to slide out of place at any given moment. The wyvern shook his head, large ears slapping against his cheeks.

Morning rituals complete, he sought to get a drink of some lovely warm water. Swoop. Alight. It was a simple deal. Dipping the bottom half of his beak under the surface, taking a big gulp, Aure tossed his head back. Droplets caught on his face flicked onto his back, and he shook his feathers out. Impromptu cleaning, babey.

Stones clattered distantly, as if someone were sifting through them. He tilted his head curiously toward the sound, gaze immediately landing upon a silvery-white stag he'd recognize anywhere (because, y'know, white stags seemed to be pretty rare in these caves and Pride stood out like a sore thumb with his grace and poise.) Not ever one to be rude, Aure first gave a chirping call, "Pride!" He flapped his wings once or twice, easily gliding and covering the distance between himself and the stag --- who seemed to be searching for something in the water.

Instinctively, the wyvern sought to help. With near-minimal effort, he conjured a bright, arcane wisp and sent it strolling through the shallows. Perhaps, it would shed some light. Turning away from the will 'o wisp, he chirped, "hello, Pride. How are you?"

@Pride

Pride turned toward the call with surprise. He wasn't often in Fornax, and had hardly expected to find an acquaintance here--but here Aure was, nonetheless, and calling out to him.

He called back, his voice showing clearly--despite his weariness--that he was pleased to see him. "Ahh, Aure. It is good to see you--you are well, I hope? And I am quite all right. A little weakened by some rather special spellwork, but nothing too terrible. What brings you all the way out here?" he went on amiably.

Then the little ball of cold-burning gas was bobbing forward, plunging into the water--and Pride had a brief moment of confusion, of worry. Had that been his? Was it another of the Masked Merchant's strange, leading lights? But he realized quickly that it was Aure's doing, and he dipped his head with a kind expression as he quickly used the sputtering fire to try and pick out any pearl. He wasn't sure how long the fire would last underwater, but it seemed to be holding for the instant, remarkably enough.

He still saw nothing, though, in the shallows--only rocks, and a couple of open clamshells with no sign of a shimmer to them. "I myself am here looking for pearl. That sort that coats the inside of some shells," he explained.

@Aure

Aure cracked his beak open in some poor imitation of a smile --- at least his creased eyes could make up the difference. "I'm doing pretty well, I think," he chirped, bird-smile vanishing as he furrowed a brow at weakness, "I hope the magic wears off soon, yeah?" I should look into learning some healing magic. There was no point in asking Pride about it --- if he had some, surely he would've used it on himself by now. The wyvern adjusted his wings casually, gaze not leaving the stag, "just some sight-seeing before I call the Bonebound back together, I think."

"Livius's announcement got me thinking; the Bonebound should have more of a purpose, too," he paused for a moment, bright eyes drifting up to Pride. A bob of his head, and he set to exploring Fornax's shallows in search of a pearl. May as well be helpful while they were talking, hm? Immediately, his limbs felt like they weighed ten times heavier, stifled by the water weight absorbed into his feathers. Oh, well. "I'd like for us to have something to offer, and--- I'm ashamed to say that we haven't done much knowledge-seeking like the Children of Rot want us to."

Just as his ghastly flame began to dissipate, an iridescent-seeming shell glinted. All focus lost on the familiar, Aure's head dunked briefly under water with a spray of water and rise of bubbles. Beak clamped delicately around the shell's edge, considering the lopsided, but large pearl nestled in its fold. "Is this one?"

Unbeknownst to him, his tail was wagging frantically in eagerness.

@Pride

Pride eyed the pearl, briefly.

"Ahh--not exactly, no. I need the shining lining on the interior of the shell--that one may have some, if you wish to keep the pearl itself?" He moved to sniff over the shell, wondering if it had any mother-of-pearl in it.

"As for the Bonebound--I never was quite clear on that. They're quite an old organization, yes? But I am not certain if you hold yourself to some purpose, or if you are simply--family, of a sort?" A curious tilt of his head followed. "Or if you have none, for now, what purpose do you intend to assign them?" His tone was politely interested; Pride followed it with a little laugh. "I admit, I fear I have not done much information-searching myself, lately. Things have been... rather chaotic."

Dark humor laced his tone, a bit self-deprecating.

"Ahh, and you had mentioned magical training, had you not? I apologize I had not gotten back to you yet, on that front--I could offer now, if you wish?"

@Aure

Aure tilted the shell slightly in his beak, as if that would allow the stag a better glimpse into it. The pearl could serve as a nice gift for someone, despite its lumpy imperfections. It gleamed and shimmered nicely in the light. He shuffled through the shallows, carefully setting the shell atop the stones so he could actually use his mouth to talk. "It might be a nice gift for someone --- do you have anyone in mind? I can keep it, otherwise." Wilder would like it, maybe. Gifts were a nice way to help mend a broken friendship.

As for the Bonebound: "my father and previous stone-holder, Aza'zel, originally founded them, yes. That was many, many cycles ago, though --- some time around the situation with Raheerah, I believe. My mother, Giggle, was alongside him, and quite a few other Gembound. I believe they were just a family, living in simpler times." These times were rife with conflict and Ancients realizing their true selves. Maybe the old King had it easy... "He had some daughters and sons of his own, although I don't know where they are except for my brothers Eythan and Carni--- and... Carni's dead. He tried to revive the Bonebound as the Marrowbound Kingdom." The wyvern knew little about the Kingdom past its name and founder, other than it being created soon after the King fell and that Eythan had been forcibly dragged back to Canis for it.

Anyways.

"They don't really have a purpose, yet. I've been neglecting to give them one, really," Aure waved a wing as he peered into the waters, ears flicking back, "I'm still thinking about it, to be honest. Knowledge-seeking is a good objective, but is it really a full purpose? There's something missing from that." It was too broad of a goal, really, but he hadn't fully realized that yet. "Chaotic, they have been," he sighed, immediately thinking to the whole Situation with Wilder and Blackberry, and generally the Bloodberries (where ever were the rest of those nuts?)

Enough rambling from him, though. Bright eyes and rounded ears pricked forth, interest piqued by magical training. "If you're not too busy, Pride," he chirped eagerly, politely, "I'd be happy to take you up on that offer, right now. I've been practicing with more arcane magic, thanks to my mother." To demonstrate, Aure reached out to the pearl-filled shell, focusing on it. It lifted steadily into the air, and spun rather easily in a lazy loop. At points, it appeared as if it had been dropped from about 5 feet above and caught within an inch of the pebbles. Once he was done, he set it back down in the exact spot it had been before.

@Pride

Pride gave his head a little shake, gentle, somehow condescending kindness in his face. It was not patronizing, not exactly, but as if he himself were a god that stood above and beyond everything and had no need of simple, mere pearls.

...He probably didn't mean to come across that way.

"Keep the pearl, give it to whomever you please--just leave me the shell. At least the creature within is dead. I'd hate to kill that," he added.

A flick of his tail, and he nodded again--both at the magic, and at Aure's explanation of the Bonebound past and present. "Well, perhaps it may be wise to ask them what they would like to do," he suggested. "And I think Dragon has enough of a hunger for knowledge to cover that factor, in the caves. Hoarding knowledge is important, yes; but what will he do with it, I wonder? I suppose that is what you mean by saying, knowledge-seeking is not enough of a goal."

The stag nodded a little at the bouncing of the shell, again. "Tell me, have you ever tried to combine magic? I don't know the extent of your spell knowledge, but for example..."

The white stag glanced around. He winced--he was still quite sore and tired, and the movement hurt his neck, a little. His magicka, too, was a little weak as he called upon it--a nearby rock flickered, at first, with white fire. "Shield your eyes," Pride suggested, mildly. Then the flicker turned into a quiet whoomph, and a crackle as the rock became a miniature sun, all plasma-fire: blinding light and searing heat, though small and distant enough that it wasn't a threat to either of them. "Can you use your mind, now--for example--to hurl that at a target? --Say the sea, or--that boulder over there?" Pride suggested.

His tone hinted that he was confident in this task--and patient, quite interested and invested in it. He would, if it were any indication, be quite a good teacher.

@Aure

Yeah, at least the pearl was dead, huh? Aure glanced over at the shell, clicking his beak. Wait, did that clam make that stone? Could it have life? Was that, perhaps, how the Lessers created spawn? Bright eyes blinked slowly at the prospect, and he shook his head. This was no time to think about the Birds and the Bees. Now was the time to talk politics and make polite conversation back.

"I have a few ideas, but the decisions never end when I call for them," Aure chirped with a flick of his ears, "I might be called the Bone King, sometimes, but every Bonebound has a say." What good was a group if it wasn't family-esque and egalitarian in nature? He couldn't help but chuckle at the slightly disparaging words towards Dragon, nodding, "I think he's just... wanting to know all there is about the Ancients." Of course, there was a question of exactly how that would aid all of them in the long run, other than blackmail material. "Maybe there's some dirt on them we can use against them, or something --- if we have to, I mean."

This was said rather casually, with a shrug of shoulders.

Back to magic, again. The wyvern struggled to remember for a moment, pondering if Pride had been at the Olympics. Ah--- hadn't he done a bit of a light show and storytelling? "Only at the magicka contest, a few cycles back. That was a little bit of my father's magic and the wisps." Bright eyes dulled a bit, peering at the stag as he winced and glanced about. Rather foolishly, Aure merely squinted at the miniature sun being formed.

Realizing that it was rather harmful to his eyesight, he averted his gaze and hummed softly, "I'll try that boulder." He focused briefly on said target, and felt for the plasma-stone with a magickal hand. Easily finding purchase and lifting it from its sizzling surroundings, Aure hurled it through the air with surprising accuracy. The glob smacked against the stone, immediately adhering in a half-searing, half-melting mess. How long had his grasp on magicka been this consistent? It was weird. Bright eyes narrowed at the sight of the slightly melting stone and the steam rising where it touched water.

"That looks like it would hurt --- if I threw that at another Gembound, I mean."

Yikes.

@Pride

Pride smiled, a little, as he watched. He paced--slowly, a little weakly--over to inspect the damage the plasma-stone had wrought, speaking politics (as Aure thought of it) all the while.

"Well, Dragon is right in saying the ancients' motives are unknown. And that we cannot trust what we do not know--whether that makes them truly untrustworthy remains to be seen, but if the Kings' claim is true, then he may have a point. We cannot defend ourselves against what we do not understand. I, too, seek knowledge--but of all sorts. Lessers, the Spire, magic..." Back to the topic at hand, then, it seemed. "If I have a strength, I suppose magic would be it--and I believe that was rather a good hit," he added, turning to Aure with amusement.

"Speaking of wisps: there is a spell similar, do you know it? To fling a wisp. It is not too unlike calling up this white fire, and throwing it. It is far less harmful, yes... but similar."

Pride turned, again looking to the boulder, and concentrated.

"Call up another of your own, if yours died in the water-?" He didn't dare glance over to see--not while concentrating on his own magic. "If it is still there--I am still weak, I fear--try to use a similar concept. Shape your magicka around that wisp and fling it, as you did my fire."

@Aure

Yes. Politics.

Aure shuffled after the stag, idly shaking out the thick feathering on his legs. Water scattered everywhere, splashing softly as Pride spoke. Even at this distance, the plasma-stone was achingly hot. Ah, this must have been the spell that Wilder was using on that tree, to morph it into --- erm, some shape. It had been blaring-bright and impossible to look at. This was just on a much, much smaller scale. A scale that could actually be thrown. "Ah, well, you and the Seven are a lot closer to the Spire than we are," he chirped, shifting away from the plasma-stone, "Canis is full of bones, obviously, and it seems like a pretty good idea to figure out the 'why' of it."

It's surprising how used to living in a cave full of dead people you got.

Anyways.

His arcane companion had already fully disappeared by the time Pride mentioned using it like a projectile, but that didn't dissuade Aure from trying. Halfway to focusing on conjuring, bright eyes shifted to Pride, "don't push yourself to demonstrate things for me, Pride. We can do this another time---" Ah, there we go. Another wisp flickered into being, spinning and dancing about in preparation. Despite not being a living thing, it seemed particularly energetic. "Then, I just... throw it?"

@Pride